66 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



have been there divided until, generally, they admit of no farther subdivision; 

 and continuing in the same family, their outlines and interior arrangements 

 and fixtures remain, intact, from generation to generation ; and moreover, be- 

 cause of the great number of thriving, well-fed non-producers in every neigh- 

 borhood, to create ready and remunerating demand for the farmers' produce, 

 from the larger staples dow^n to his apples and his pigs, and all his " odds and 

 ends," even to a pint of buttermilk. In 1820 the population of Vuginia and 

 New-York were very nearly the same, each a fraction over a million. Then 

 Virginia had only seven persons to the square mile or 640 acres, while INew- 

 York had twenty-seven. Since then the population of Virginia has increased 

 only 174,46^, while that of New- York has increased 1,373,463, having more 

 than doubled in twenty years. 



The fact is, there might be 500,000 able-bodied men added to her present force, 

 and profitably employed in Agriculture in Virginia, that is, in a way to gain a 

 comfortable livelihood, and to regenerate the whole country. Ten New-England 

 families would grow and flourish on the very estate upon which I am writing, 

 of one thousand acres, all in view. But, says the reader, after all, why so eager 

 for more people ? Do numbers constitute prosperity or happiness ? Is not Ireland 

 at once one of the most populous and at the same time most degraded and mis- 

 erable countries in the world ? All very true. Numbers are not always identical 

 with prosperity or power ; but in our confederacy or partnership Government, 

 the members of a State constitute its stock in trade ! its political poicer ! its 

 share in the direction and distribution of the proceeds and the surplus of public 

 property and income. In proportion to its numbers does each State participate 

 in the origination of all money bills, the imposition of taxes, and — what is yet 

 more dangerous, because insidious and imperceptible to the senses of the people — 

 the power of borrowing money and accumulating debt upon the landed interest, 

 which is looked to, after all, as the great, substantial, tangible security. In a 

 Word, it is on the fioor of Congress that the shoe begins to pinch Virginia and 

 all the old Middle and Southern States, and will pinch them still harder I 



But, Sir, you have not room for these speculations; and, besides, as you have 

 intimated, some people may begin to inquire. What has a "Farmers' Library " 

 to do with political economy and the acts of Congress ? No matter how directly 

 or how heavily they may bear on the agriculturists of the country. And so, after 

 a true Virginia breakfast, we must ss-y farewell to Berry Hill and to its estimable 

 and hospitable proprietor. If you would judge of his stock, and have any claims 

 on her hospitality, even the little that I had, I recommend you, Mr. Editor, to 

 step ashore at Point Coupee, at Col. Taylor's, on the Mississippi, and from the 

 head of his table you may have the honor of being served by a thorough-bred 

 old Virginia lady, and she the daughter of Col. John Thom. Leaving Berry- 

 ville, we passed by Culpeper Court-House, and so on by Woodville in Rappa- 

 hannock, reaching before night " Montpelier," the charming residence of Doctor 

 P. Thornton, where I have amused myself with scribbling this long rigmarole. 

 Proposing to write again from the Springs in Greenbriar, I must now say 



Vale-vale. Omoo. 



To Destroy the Curculio. — A gentleman of this cit}' iuforms us that a lady of his ac- 

 quaintance has, for several years past, practiced hanging one or more bottles, filled with 

 sweetened water, or the like, among the branches of her plum-trees, and the result has been 

 an abundant supply of both curculios and plums. The curculios are caught iu the bottle, 

 and the plums left to ripen without suffering from the cm-culios' usual depredations. Some 

 litde attention is necessary to note when the bottles get filled, and then, of course, they must 

 be emptied and filled afresh. The gentleman says that this course has been fully successftil; 

 resulting in abundant crops fi-om ti-ees so managed, while others around had their fruit en- 

 tirely destroyed. The remedy as stated is a simple one, and so easily adopted that if in 

 other cases it should not succeed, its expense will be very trifling. [Cleveland Herald. 



Sheep Trade. — The Pittsburg Gazette says a large operation is going on in an adjoining 

 county in Ohio, in slaaghtering sheep, feeding hogs with the ofFal, rendering the carcass into tal- 

 low, curing the hams for market, and preparing the pelts in a mercantile manner. Last season 

 about 20,000 sheep were thus "manufactured." This season 1,000 hogs are falling at one estab- 



lishment 



1162) 



